... by Jackie D., and so instead of finishing an article I am late on, I am looking through my bookshelves. Here goes:
You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
"The Mother Knot: a Memoir" by Kathyrn Harrison, so that I might experience the satisfaction of feeding this solipsistic crap page by page into the flames. I'll toss in whole John Kennedy Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces," a book that proves you can have too much mothering.
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Duh--Howard Roark, the architect in "The Fountainhead." Tall, hard as granite, standing his ground against mediocrity and the fools who would have him fall. AND played by Gary Cooper in the movie. I'm still swooning.
The last book you bought is:
"Confessions of an S.O.B." by Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today and married to a friend of my mom's, who asked me to buy her this book off Amazon. For myself, "A Bend in the Road" by Eamon McEneaney, someone I knew who was killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11. This book of his poetry was published posthumously by his widow.
The last book you read:
"Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million" by Martin Amis, which I blogged about here. And just before that, "Into That Darkness" by Gitta Sereny, an extraordinary writer who, better than any I've read and with great gentleness, disinters the roots of human evil.
What are you currently reading?
"Pol Pot: Anatony of a Nightmare" by Philip Short. Clearly, I'm on something of a despot kick.
Five books you would take to a deserted island.
"Wanderer" by Sterling Hayden. By favorite book, ever.
"The Quiet American" by Graham Greene.
"A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisine" by Anthony Bourdain, because he's funny and writes about food, and I'd be in need of both.
"The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, because it's long and I haven't read it and clearly these people had a harder time than I'd be having.
Something sweeping and romantic. How about a complete set of Gore Vidal's historical novels?
Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
The first three that come to mind--my friends Dario and Hillary and my dad--do not maintain blogs. This is not to say the following are by default!
Matt Welch, because he's so smart and funny and I want to read what he reads.
Michael Totten, because every book he's recommended has been great.
Michelle Collins, because even though I've never met her, she's funny as hell (and, judging from my list, I could use a little levity).
I need something to blog about anyway. I guess this is it!
I'm glad you liked the Martin Amis book.
You and I recently discussed how hard it is to read fiction these days. Well, I found the cure. It's a short novel called "Hey Nostradamus" by Douglas Coupland. I read it a few weeks ago in ONE SITTING. I haven't done that since I graduated from college 13 years ago. (It helps that the book is a short one.)
What's the book about? Tough question to answer. Let's just say that it opens with a Columbine style atrocity at a high school and follows four characters through ten years of the aftermath. What happens in that aftermath is incredible stuff, and it wouldn't be fair for me to talk about it. I put the book down weeks ago and I still can't get it out of my mind.
Posted by: Michael J. Totten | March 23, 2005 at 12:11 PM
Well, okay to Copeland, because you have a sterling track record, but I remember years ago, when an old boyfriend left his copy of "Generation X" on my bookshelf, and my then-best-friend/now-sister-in-law saw it and said, with no small contempt, "You need to get rid of that; it tars everything else."
Posted by: nancy | March 23, 2005 at 12:19 PM
"Generation X" is his worst book. It has its moments, but I couldn't finish it.
The difference between the two books is the difference between a 20-year old and a 40-year old.
Posted by: Michael J. Totten | March 23, 2005 at 01:07 PM
I really enjoyed Coupland's Microserfs.
Posted by: Jackie D | March 23, 2005 at 06:20 PM
i'm not going to pretend to remember much of anything about any douglas coupland book except that they were all satisfying and gratifying reads, even microserfs, though it wasn't my favorite. hey nostradamus was the most recent read, though, and it was very good.
now i'm reading a novel that the la times wants me to review and experiencing discomfort because it is pretty shitty and i hate to say bad stuff. nonetheless, i'll do my duty.
i'm reading "city of quartz" now and thoroughly enjoying it, after which I'll tackle "Collapse"
now, if i could only find a way to stay awake when i read in bed.
Posted by: david | March 23, 2005 at 08:19 PM